So-called dual tab merchandising bags are known. Such bags include a front panel, and a rear panel, these panels occupying the full dimension and width of the bag. The front and rear panels are joined by folded front and rear gussets (sides) therebetween. The bags are sealed at the bottom and open at the top. Before the bag is opened, the front and rear gussets are folded at a central gusset fold upon themselves and collapsed under and between the bag front and rear panels.
When the bag is in the collapsed position, the folded gussets only extend partially the width of the front and rear panels of the bag. Thus if the bag in the collapsed position is observed near the side edge, the bag will be found to have four overlying layers. These layers will include, the front panel, the front gusset, the rear gusset, and finally the rear panel. If however, the bag in the collapsed position is observed in the center, the bag will be found to have two overlying layers. These layers will only be the front and rear panels.
In the dual tab merchandising bag, handle holes are provided centrally of the front and rear panels adjacent the top of the bag. Typically the holes are round, registered over one another, and enable support from the front and rear panels to permit merchandise to be carried in the bag when the bag is grasped and held at the handles.
The so-called "dual tabs" of such merchandising bags are observed when the bag is in the collapsed disposition in a so-called "packet" of bags. (It will be understood that the term "wicket" is sometimes also used, particularly by those intimately involved in the bag industry.) These tabs can be found adjacent the sides overlying the bag gussets. The tabs of many bags are fused together to form the packet of bags. The packet of bags is commonly the unitary mass that is manufactured at the same time and taken as a unit to the clerks counter at the same time for serial dispensing--one at a time.
The tabs usually include a common hole through the center of the bags from which the bags as a group can be held. Typically, perforations are used between the body of the bags and the tabs as the separation point between the bag and its associated tabs. When an individual bag is separated from a group of such bags, separation occurs leaving the tabs behind.
Typically, these bags are serially dispensed from the packet of such bags. Consideration of the conventional manner of the dispensing of the bags must be reviewed in detail. This detail is necessary to understand both the construction and convenience of the disclosed new bag set forth herein.
Presuming that a store clerk has made a sale, and is ready to "bag" the purchase of the customer, the steps in placing merchandise within a bag can be serially understood.
First, the clerk reaches for a bag under a counter. The bag is usually contained in a packet of identical bags as vended from the manufacturer. Most commonly the packet of bags are in a dispensing carton. Usually, the bottom sealed seam of the bag is outwardly disposed to the clerk so that the bag may be singulated from the group of remaining bags in the bag packet.
Once the bag is grabbed at the bottom seam, and singulated from the remaining bags, it is pulled outwardly from the containing carton bottom end first so that the open end is away from the grasping hand of the clerk.
At this point, the clerk must grasp the open end of the bag and release the sealed bottom end of the bag. Thereafter, the grasped open end must be taken between the fingers at the open end and the front bag panel separated from the rear bag panel.
This is not an easy task. Specifically, the front and rear panels of the bag have been together since the bag was manufactured; these panels will be held together by both electrostatic forces and the memory of the plastic material. As a consequence, the front and rear panels will attempt to retain their original disposition (as anyone who has ever attempted to open a plastic bag knows). Typically, the front and rear panels will be separated for a sufficient period of time to enable the clerk to individually grasp each panel.
Presuming that the clerk has effected initial opening of the bag, an arm will be inserted to the bag to "find" the bag bottom. This movement effects complete bag opening and enables the front and rear panel to be permanently separated to a sufficient extent that when the purchased merchandise is registered to the opening of the bag, it can slide and otherwise fit inside the bag.
Having set forth serially the discrete steps of the clerk in the opening of conventional merchandise bags, some comments can be offered.
Sometimes dispensing of a bag is unsuccessful. For example, the clerk can often be unsuccessful in the singulation of bags, one from another. Most commonly, more than one bag is grabbed at a time.
When this occurs, the clerk usually immediately separates one bag and proceeds through the necessary steps for the "bagging" of the customer purchase. From the standpoint of the store, the real question is what does the clerk do with the unsuccessfully separated bags?
The unsuccessfully separated bags are usually out of their original planar alignment and withdrawn from their containing carton. That is to say--they are a crumpled mess. The clerk can either smooth out the bags and restore them to the stack of bags for use with the next purchase (a time consuming process when threading of the bags to a containing carton must occur) or the clerk can discard the bags (the more common occurrence). Sometimes, and because the clerk does not want to be directly observed "wasting" brand new bags, the clerk stuffs the unsuccessfully singulated and crumpled bags under the counter. Bags are retained--stuffed and crumpled in a remote volume under the counter--until they are cleaned out as a group and discarded.
Further, the manual opening of the merchandise bags described is distracting--especially to the clerk. During the bag opening process, the clerk's attention is diverted from the customer and the merchandise. Full attention must be devoted to the bag.
The reader will understand that the foregoing discussion is based upon real observations that have been necessary for producing the bag product of this invention.